uncontrolled
Britishadjective
Explanation
Do your little cousins go running wildly around the house every time they're visiting? Then they're uncontrolled — they aren't being restrained by anyone or anything. Anything uncontrolled isn't kept in check or held back. An uncontrolled scream is intense, because you're not trying to tamp it down. An uncontrolled balloon has blown loose and is flying around with no one holding its string. And scientifically speaking, an uncontrolled study or experiment doesn't use a so-called "control group," which is used for comparison and makes the study more valid.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The booster fell swiftly back to Earth, uncontrolled, into the Gulf of Mexico.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
Defection to solar has been so fast and uncontrolled that Pakistan’s energy utilities are struggling with falling sales.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
Raymond Barlow, from the council's building standards team, told BBC Scotland News that it was not possible to demolish the facade with a machine as it would cause an uncontrolled collapse.
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026
Authorities have blamed the scale of devastation partly on uncontrolled logging, and have revoked forestry permits in the disaster's wake.
From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026
It didn’t hurt that across the lab Charlotte was watching with uncontrolled envy.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
